Android Market movie rentals kick off in UK, no hacking required

Google added the ability to rent films to the Android Market for Android users in the US back in July. If you were outside the US, the only thing you could do was hack the app that plays the films to allow you to watch. If you aren’t the hacking sort, Google has now announced that movie rentals are officially available in the UK.

Movie fans in the UK will have 1,000 films to watch to begin with and they will start at a price of £2.49 each. For that price, the user will get 30 days to watch the film and the movie will be available on any connected device the user logs into. That means the user’s Android smartphone, tablet, and even the computer can be used to watch the movie.

Once the user starts watching a film, they get 48 hours to finish. If you don’t finish in the 48-hour window, you will have to pay again. This will let Google fight the new YouTube movie rental program that launched not long ago.